Man given 80-year child porn sentence after Sask. ICE unit works with U.S. authorities

An international investigation involving the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation Unit (ICE) has led to an 80-year U.S. prison sentence for a Texas man on child porn offences. ICE includes officers from the RCMP and police services in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert.

Robert Dion Ables, 40, of Hutchins, Texas was convicted of producing child pornography after Canadian officers collaborated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations teams.

On November 21, 2015 ICE in Saskatchewan followed a complaint from its Southern Saskatchewan detachment about a young girl who was being exploited via social media. The offender’s location and usernames were identified via his digital footprint, and his details were sent to U.S. authorities.

As a result, in December 2016 Ables’ residence was searched and he was arrested. He has been detained ever since, and pleaded guilty to one count of receiving child pornography and two counts of producing child pornography in March of 2017.

RCMP say that in conversations on a social media app, Ables convinced young girls to send him naked photographs of themselves, then got them to send additional images by threatening to distribute images that they had already sent him.